Tree growth and recruitment in a leveed floodplain forest in the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, USA
Hugo K.W. Gee, Sammy L. King, Richard F. Keim
2014, Forest Ecology and Management (334) 85-95
Flooding is a defining disturbance in floodplain forests affecting seed germination, seedling establishment, and tree growth. Globally, flood control, including artificial levees, dams, and channelization has altered flood regimes in floodplains. However, a paucity of data are available in regards to the long-term effects of levees on stand establishment and...
A multiscale, hierarchical model of pulse dynamics in arid-land ecosystems
Scott L. Collins, Jayne Belnap, N. B. Grimm, J. A. Rudgers, Clifford N. Dahm, P. D’Odorico, M. Litvak, D. O. Natvig, Douglas C. Peters, W. T. Pockman, R. L. Sinsabaugh, B. O. Wolf
2014, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics (45) 397-419
Ecological processes in arid lands are often described by the pulse-reserve paradigm, in which rain events drive biological activity until moisture is depleted, leaving a reserve. This paradigm is frequently applied to processes stimulated by one or a few precipitation events within a growing season. Here we expand the original...
Nitrogen speciation and trends, and prediction of denitrification extent, in shallow US groundwater
Stephen R. Hinkle, Anthony J. Tesoriero
2014, Journal of Hydrology (509) 343-353
Uncertainties surrounding nitrogen cycling complicate assessments of the environmental effects of nitrogen use and our understanding of the global carbon–nitrogen cycle. In this paper, we synthesize data from 877 ambient-monitoring wells across the US to frame broad patterns of nitrogen speciation and trends. At these sites, groundwater frequently contains substantial...
Fish community dynamics following dam removal in a fragmented agricultural stream
Matthew Kornis, Brian Weidel, Stephens Powers, Matthew W. Diebel, Timpthy Cline, Justin Fox, James F. Kitchell
2014, Aquatic Sciences (77) 465-480
Habitat fragmentation impedes dispersal of aquatic fauna, and barrier removal is increasingly used to increase stream network connectivity and facilitate fish dispersal. Improved understanding of fish community response to barrier removal is needed, especially in fragmented agricultural streams where numerous antiquated dams are likely destined for removal. We examined post-removal...
Bedrock geologic and structural map through the western Candor Colles region of Mars
Chris H. Okubo
2014, Scientific Investigations Map 3309
The Candor Colles are a population of low, conical hills along the southeast flank of Ceti Mensa, in west Candor Chasma, within the Valles Marineris system of Mars (fig. 1). Ceti Mensa and the adjacent Candor Mensa are mounds of layered sedimentary deposits and are the most prominent landforms within...
Opposing resonses to ecological gradients structure amphibian and reptile communities across a temperate grassland-savanna-forest landscape
Ralph Grundel, David Beamer, Gary A. Glowacki, Krystal Frohnapple, Noel B. Pavlovic
2014, Biodiversity and Conservation (24) 1089-1108
Temperate savannas are threatened across the globe. If we prioritize savanna restoration, we should ask how savanna animal communities differ from communities in related open habitats and forests. We documented distribution of amphibian and reptile species across an open-savanna–forest gradient in the Midwest U.S. to determine how fire history and...
Mercury in birds of San Francisco Bay-Delta, California: trophic pathways, bioaccumulation, and ecotoxicological risk to avian reproduction
Joshua T. Ackerman, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Gary Heinz, Susan E.W. De La Cruz, John Y. Takekawa, A. Keith Miles, Terrence L. Adelsbach, Mark P. Herzog, Jill D. Bluso-Demers, Scott A. Demers, Garth Herring, David J. Hoffman, Christopher A. Hartman, James J. Willacker, Thomas H. Suchanek, Steven E. Schwarzbach, Thomas C. Maurer
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1251
San Francisco Bay Estuary in northern California has a legacy of mercury contamination, which could reduce the health and reproductive success of waterbirds in the estuary. The goal of this study was to use an integrated field and laboratory approach to evaluate the risks of mercury exposure to birds in...
Water-quality, bed-sediment, and biological data (October 2012 through September 2013) and statistical summaries of data for streams in the Clark Fork Basin, Montana
Kent A. Dodge, Michelle I. Hornberger, Jessica Dyke
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1244
Water, bed sediment, and biota were sampled in streams from Butte to near Missoula, Montana, as part of a monitoring program in the upper Clark Fork Basin of western Montana. The sampling program was led by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to characterize...
National assessment of hurricane-induced coastal erosion hazards: Northeast Atlantic Coast
Justin J. Birchler, Hilary F. Stockdon, Kara S. Doran, David M. Thompson
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1243
Beaches serve as a natural buffer between the ocean and inland communities, ecosystems, and natural resources. However, these dynamic environments move and change in response to winds, waves, and currents. During extreme storms, changes to beaches can be great, and the results are sometimes catastrophic. Lives may be lost, communities...
Proper handling of animal tissues from the field to the laboratory supports reliable biomarker endpoints
Heather M. Olivier, Jill A. Jenkins
J. B. Alford, Mark S. Peterson, Christopher C. Green, editor(s)
2014, Book chapter, Impacts of oil spill disasters on marine habitats and fisheries in North America
In the endeavor to assess potential effects to the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem from the Mississippi Canyon 252 incident, referred to as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, various environmental data have been collected. Whereas initial efforts have included satellite tracking and sediment and water sampling to estimate the geographical scope...
Geospatial compilation of historical water-level changes in the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers 1977-2013 and Jasper aquifer 2000-13, Gulf Coast aquifer system, Houston-Galveston region, Texas
Michaela R. Johnson, Joshua I. Linard
2014, Data Series 900
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District, City of Houston, Fort Bend Subsidence District, Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District, and Brazoria County Groundwater Conservation District has produced an annual series of reports that depict water-level changes in the Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper aquifers of the...
DOI/GTN-P climate and active-layer data acquired in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Frank E. Urban, Gary D. Clow
2014, Data Series 892
This report provides data collected by the climate monitoring array of the U.S. Department of the Interior on Federal lands in Arctic Alaska over the period August 1998 to July 2013; this array is part of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost, (DOI/GTN-P). In addition to presenting data, this report...
Significance of a near-source tephra-stratigraphic sequence to the eruptive history of Hayes Volcano, south-central Alaska
Kristi L. Wallace, Michelle L. Coombs, Leslie A. Hayden, Christopher F. Waythomas
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5133
Bluffs along the Hayes River valley, 31 km northeast and 40 km downstream from Hayes Volcano, reveal volcanic deposits that shed new light on its eruptive history. Three thick (>10 cm) and five thin (<10 cm) tephra-fall deposits are dacitic in whole rock composition and contain high proportions of amphibole...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Michigan
William J. Carswell Jr.
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3107
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Michigan, elevation data are critical for agriculture and precision farming, natural resources conservation, flood risk management, water supply and quality, infrastructure and...
A 19-year record of chemical and isotopic composition of water from springs of the Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, 1995-2014
Eurybiades Busenberg, Niel Plummer, Tyler B. Coplen, Michael W. Doughten, Peggy K. Widman, Gerolamo C. Casile, Julian E. Wayland, David L. Nelms
2014, Data Series 893
During October 1995 through March 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the National Park Service, Luray, Virginia Station collected and analyzed samples of selected springs, air and unsaturated-zone gases in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. The 19-year record of measurements of chemical and isotopic composition of water discharging from...
Quaternary landscape development, alluvial fan chronology and erosion of the Mecca Hills at the southern end of the San Andreas Fault zone
Harrison J. Gray, Lewis A. Owen, Craig Dietsch, Richard A. Beck, Marc A. Caffee, Robert B. Finkelman, Shannon Mahan
2014, Quaternary Science Reviews (105) 66-85
Quantitative geomorphic analysis combined with cosmogenic nuclide 10Be-based geochronology and denudation rates have been used to further the understanding of the Quaternary landscape development of the Mecca Hills, a zone of transpressional uplift along the southern end of the San Andreas Fault, in southern California. The similar timing of convergent uplifts...
Methods for estimating magnitude and frequency of floods in Arizona, developed with unregulated and rural peak-flow data through water year 2010
Nicholas V. Paretti, Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Lovina A. Turney, Andrea G. Veilleux
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5211
Flooding is among the worst natural disasters responsible for loss of life and property in Arizona, underscoring the importance of accurate estimation of flood magnitude for proper structural design and floodplain mapping. Twenty-four years of additional peak-flow data have been recorded since the last comprehensive regional flood frequency analysis conducted...
Evaluation of the magnitude and frequency of floods in urban watersheds in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona
Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Nicholas V. Paretti
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5121
Flooding in urban areas routinely causes severe damage to property and often results in loss of life. To investigate the effect of urbanization on the magnitude and frequency of flood peaks, a flood frequency analysis was carried out using data from urbanized streamgaging stations in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. Flood...
Methods for estimating magnitude and frequency of 1-, 3-, 7-, 15-, and 30-day flood-duration flows in Arizona
Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Nicholas V. Paretti, Andrea G. Veilleux
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5109
Large floods have historically caused extensive damage in Arizona. Although peak-flow frequency estimates are required for managing the risk posed by floods, estimates of the frequency of sustained flood flow (flood-duration flow) are also useful for planning and assessing the adequacy of retention and conveyance structures and for water-resource planning....
Hybridization of two megacephalic map turtles (testudines: emydidae: Graptemys) in the Choctawhatchee River drainage of Alabama and Florida
James Godwin, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Joshua R. Ennen, Brian R. Kreiser, Brian Folt, Chris Lechowicz
2014, Copeia (2014) 725-742
Map turtles of the genus Graptemys are highly aquatic and rarely undergo terrestrial movements, and limited dispersal among drainages has been hypothesized to drive drainage-specific endemism and high species richness of this group in the southeastern United States. Until recently, two members of the megacephalic “pulchra clade,” Graptemys barbouri andGraptemys ernsti, were presumed to be...
Predicting spatial and temporal distribution of Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans) in Biscayne Bay through habitat suitability modeling
Nicholas A. Bernal, Donald L. DeAngelis, Pamela J. Schofield, Kathleen Sullivan Sealey
2014, Biological Invasions (17) 1603-1614
Invasive species may exhibit higher levels of growth and reproduction when environmental conditions are most suitable, and thus their effects on native fauna may be intensified. Understanding potential impacts of these species, especially in the nascent stages of a biological invasion, requires critical information concerning spatial and temporal distributions of...
Quality-assurance and data-management plan for water-quality activities in the Kansas Water Science Center, 2014
Teresa J. Rasmussen, Trudy J. Bennett, Guy M. Foster, Jennifer L. Graham, James E. Putnam
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1233
As the Nation’s largest water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping information agency, the U.S. Geological Survey is relied on to collect high-quality data, and produce factual and impartial interpretive reports. This quality-assurance and data-management plan provides guidance for water-quality activities conducted by the Kansas Water Science Center. Policies...
A sight "fearfully grand": eruptions of Lassen Peak, California, 1914 to 1917
Michael A. Clynne, Robert L. Christiansen, Peter H. Stauffer, James W. Hendley II, Heather A. Bleick
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3119
On May 22, 1915, a large explosive eruption at the summit of Lassen Peak, California, the southernmost active volcano in the Cascade Range, devastated nearby areas and rained volcanic ash as far away as 280 miles to the east. This explosion was the most powerful in a series of eruptions...
The California Volcano Observatory: Monitoring the state's restless volcanoes
Wendy K. Stovall, Mae Marcaida, Margaret T. Mangan
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3120
Volcanic eruptions happen in the State of California about as frequently as the largest earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault Zone. At least 10 eruptions have taken place in California in the past 1,000 years—most recently at Lassen Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park (1914 to 1917) in the northern...
Hydrogeologic framework and groundwater/surface-water interactions of the South Fork Nooksack River Basin, northwestern Washington
Andrew S. Gendaszek
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5221
A hydrogeologic framework of the South Fork (SF) Nooksack River Basin in northwestern Washington was developed and hydrologic data were collected to characterize the groundwater-flow system and its interaction with surface‑water features. In addition to domestic, agricultural, and commercial uses of groundwater within the SF Nooksack River Basin, groundwater has...
